Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-09-24
Nevertheless our swarthy sailors pulled

Nevertheless our swarthy sailors pulled
us brayely to the land.
I, We soon came in sight of village built
on piles standing in the water, which sur
rounded all the houses, and served as an
admirable protection for them. l had
seen many villages in New Guinea built
IN this fashion, but none to equal this of
Tobadi, as / learned it is called. What
were the miserable huts of Hoods bay
compared with the stately structures of
this place? The largest building in To
badi is an octagon al structure having the
lower walls vertical, but with an eight
sided sloping roof, which tapers to point
at the height of sixty feet. The lower
portions of the roof are decorated with
the shells of turtles eggs, set on in orna-
mental curves. Above these the cross
beams are aptistically carved so as to form
frieze; and the rest of the roof is
adorned with projecting palm branches,
and figures of birds, lizards and fish
sculptured in wood, and brightly painted
The apex of the roof is open to the air,
and is surmounted by disk, bearing
flying bird, the final and browning orna-
ment to the whole. This really admira-
nothing but stone tools, and it is unques-
of the Stone Age
Near by is the so-called "Temple," a
large building about sixty feet long. In
1853 the Dutch explorers had great diff
Guilty in obtaining entrance to this build
ing, and the members of the Challenger
expedition we're notpermttedt to go into a
single house in the place. We, however,
asked no questions and merely pushing
one or two of the people aside we pene-
trated to the holy of holes. Twilight
prevailed in the interior of the building
and at first we could scarcely see any
thing at all As we became accustomed
to the dimness we admired the skillful
and ingenious way in which the rafters
were fitted together and, as it were, in
terlaced, though many of them were kept
in place by no better FASTENING than
cords bound around their ends. There
is little else to be seen within. There
are number of tireplaces made by pill
ing sand on the wooden floor, some
wooden head-rests or pillows, several big
drums made from the trunks of trees
followed out, such as are seen in all
parts of New Guinea, and some "holy
flutes" | tried to blow one of these
last, and the i'll success of my profane
efforts caused the natives u good deal of
amusement. They laughingly asked us
to sit down and then RECALLED us upon
water with teetotaler's hospitality.
We also visited several of the large
dwellings, which are used by number
of families in common. The arrange
ments in these houses are such as to
make decency out of the question. We
found the people in them very rude and
thievish. In the first one we visited
they stole Captain Ballmann's silk hand
kerchief, and in the next they distracted
from my pocket piece of red cloth |
was in the habit of carrying to use as
small change in making purchases
or presents. To crown all their knaverv
while | was sketching the temple one of
my entertainers tried to steal my shoes
off my feet. Perhaps they are actuated
rather by curiosity than by covetousness,
for they wanted to investigate every
thing-our watches, telescopes, and even
the color of our skins; but whatever
pleases them they want to take pos
session of.
1t was time to return to the Samoa,
for rather alarming multitudes of canoes
had surrounded the vessel. The first
mate, with but ten men under him, had
his hands full keeping our decks clear of
the savages. The bay was like fair
ground, and fully seventy-tive canoes,
containing from four to eight men EACH
covered the water. The people carried
immense numbers of bows and arrows,
and seemed nearly ready to use them. A
free use of Low German "cross-words"
had at first frightened them off When
they got accustomed to those idioms, and
to the screaming of our whistle, it became
necessary to use other harmless devices to
keep them off. Blowing off steam from
our boilers amused and frightened them
for a while, but they soon laughingly
drew near again to our decks, and then
we had not hands enough to throw the
more venturesome climbers overheard
Besides, this is a rather heating occupa-
ton, and as we had nothing to keep us
there, we got up steam and left Humboldt
bay behind us.